We Watermelons piled into Van 2 and headed out of Seattle around noon. We didn’t anticipate starting running until about 6 p.m., and as Runner 11, I likely wouldn’t be on the course until 9. Cue a very leisurely ride to Sandy, OR. Let’s use this time to introduce you to my van-mates.

View from the van on the drive to Oregon.

Runner 7 was the little powerhouse Meghan B. She is from Jersey, she is young (23!), she is confident. Speed honed in youth aside, If her constant smile and can-do attitude is what running competitively in high school and college does for you, then I really hope my daughters continue to run.

Runner 8 was Megan H., also a young’un, also a speedy East-coaster, she writes for Runner’s World and loves the sport. She puts together a lot of the motivational quotes for the RW site, and for good reason–she was very encouraging along the way.

Playing the unfortunate role of Runner 9 was Laura T., a Nuun employee from here in the Atlanta area. She is a rock–a solid runner who attacked all three of her difficult legs and never uttered a word of complaint. She is also so kind and thoughtful–great qualities in a van-mate.

Handing off to me was Runner 10, Lisa M. She is very transparent online so I knew from our Twitter conversations and her blog that she is a genuine, caring person. She also has some knowledge of chronic pain and of injury so for me, she was particularly good to have around as I struggled through the mental and physical strain of doing this race injured.

Runner 11: Yours truly

Our anchor was Devon M., who is just an all-around awesome lady. She is collected and even, and has her head on straight. She is a solid runner, and completely drama-free. Not to mention adorable. I’d like to have a Devon dolly to keep in my pocket just to cheer me up sometimes. 🙂

And let us not forget the fearless Warrior Behind the Wheel: Casey. Nuun CFO and devoted Huskies fan. He drove that 15-passenger van like it was a Miata, and only took out two curbs that we know of.

All the sparkle, none of the drama!

Can I just say how nice it is to have a drama-free van? I’ve been fortunate to have very little van-drama in most of the relays I’ve done, and frankly, I don’t know why anyone would want to create drama. The race hands you enough true, drama–save your energy for that.

About the worst thing that happened along the way was our first trip to Safeway, in which we were denied on our quest to invite Stacy into our van. It’s a relay essential, y’all, and we very nearly did not get them. Luckily all was righted at our next stop and we were pretty much Powered by Stacy for the rest of the relay.

All the Stacy’s

The Nuun bar. All the electrolytes you could desire.

So, here’s the part that tells you how yes, I have a little bit of the sad over being in Van 2. See, Van 2 does not get to go up Mt. Hood. Hence, like half of all Hood-to-Coast-ers, I have no awesome jumping-with-the-mountain-behind-me pics. I get why that is, with traffic going up and down a big ole mountain but if you’ll allow me a moment… *Whine.*

Okay, all done.

We made it to Exchange 6, which was in the parking lot of a Safeway in Sandy. We all got waaaaaay too excited about seeing the Dead Jocks van as we were pulling in. Also, we were cutting it pretty close so we got Meghan all safety-geared up and sent her out on the course to take the slap bracelet baton from Catey.

Look closely and you can see the Dead Jocks van!

Afterward, we gathered everyone who was still there from the Nuun teams together for a picture. Team Lemonade had arrived, all of Watermelon, minus Meghan, was there, and even parts of Nuun’s competitive Team Cherry Limeade were still on site. What I did not realize was that the person who was gathering us for the picture had nothing to do with the teams… except that he is a race director wants a certain member of Team Lemonade to help him promote his race in Oregon. And so, after he’d taken the picture he loudly exulted “Yeah! It’s HOLLY ROBERTS TEAM!!!” and got on the phone to… tell someone he’d been successful in finding her? Who knows, but it was funny. Holly told us what was going on and we giggled and giggled. Since she was so mortified, and since I am just that mean, I pretty much took immediately decided that the #teamhollyroberts needed to became a thing. And so a joke was born. Holly, it was an honor to be on Team Holly Roberts. May it happen again. 🙂

Team Holly Roberts.

Soon after we needed to get on the road to make the next exchange. The two Meg(h)ans are speedy and were on fresh legs. The slap bracelet went from Meghan to Megan to Laura to Lisa and soon I was up. We were pushing it coming into Exchange 10. Dark was coming on, and we stumbled to the exchange not long before Lisa came in.

Lit up for my night run. How cute is the pink Amphipod flower and vest?!?

I was nervous going into this run. Like, nervous to the point that I’d had to really work hard to enjoy the trip up to this point. I will tell you that getting on the plane to Seattle was pretty much one of the most selfish things I’ve ever done. I flat didn’t know if I’d be able to run. I said that know matter what I’d finish the legs–I was not going to let anyone run for me as I’d had to do during Ragnar Chicago. But I didn’t know what price that would come at: Either what I might injure or re-injure, or how much time I’d cost the team. I’d been in a lot of pain during and after Thursday’s Green Lake run. My IT Band is pretty much well, but other parts of my body have been doing a lot of compensating. But my left glute and hamstring were so tight and they were hurting a lot. The top of my right hip has also been acting up, in the form of sharp pain. This is an injury that I’d struggled with in 2012, but which had disappeared after I switched shoes last fall, had suddenly returned about a week before. That said, I do not advocate using a ton of NSAID’s, especially during running. But for this, I took Advil prior to the run, and it got me through. Kisses for you, Advil.

Leg 11 takes you on a paved trail through parts of Portland; mostly industrial. I’m not a huge fan of paved walking trails, as they tend to attract backpack-carrying Hoodie wearers, which is all well and good but who tend to look creepy after dark. Sorry, backpack-carrying hoodie wearers of the world. But there also were several cyclists out there and a lot of runners so it wasn’t too creepy, even though the area was so very industrial. Looking at the satellite of it now, I’m a) glad I didn’t look at the satellite imagery of the area earlier and b) glad I was running it at night or else I’d have been bored looking at the warehouses. The path was traffic-free except where it crossed streets (and the volunteers were pushing the light-change buttons for us) and great to run on, save one thing: The path went by some sort of Food Truck Extravaganza. And yes, it was 9 p.m. and we hadn’t yet eaten dinner. No, I did not stop. Yes, I wanted to.

This run was the best of the three for me, and that ain’t saying much. Everything hurt but I was so, so happy to be out there, and running, and numbed enough by Advil that I could ignore the pain. I came into the exchange happy to be there, happy to be done, and happy to be sending Devon off to finish up our first legs.

Up next in my Leg Two Recap: Don’t Be Cruel, and A Seat at the Table for my Foam Roller.

From the time Ragnar first came on my radar, I have been utterly enthralled with the idea. Running. Driving. Eating. Fun-having. I approve of all these things. I followed people on Twitter who were running Ragnar FL Keys last January and immediately thought “This is so my scene.” My husband and I landed a spot on a team for Chicago but even before that, I decided that I wanted to be on a team for Tennessee. I didn’t want to chance not getting a spot on a team, so I decided to put together a team for myself.

Even now, two days after we crossed the finish line, I can’t believe it actually happened. And that it’s over. And that my next potential relay experience won’t happen until next June (Chicago again).

Yes, as I write this I am in a Ragnar hangover. Trying very hard to resist the urge to write on random vehicles with wet chalk marker… looking for someone to slap a bracelet on at the end of my run…and researching where to buy a cowbell to call my own. So, to combat the funk, I will re-live for you the Adventures of Team Twisted Running at Ragnar Tennessee.

First off, I adore this team. I am so pleased that we wound up with 10 people that I personally knew, and even then, the only one that I’d never met was a sibling of a team member.

Our Cast of Characters (in runner order):

VAN 1

1. Jan-I met Jan through BodyPump at the Y. We’ve run some of the same races and I’ve gotten to go the BootCamp class she teaches. She is funny and encouraging.

2. Amy-A dynamic college chum who has become a long-distance running friend, too.

3. Jason (JWin, as we had two Jasons)-Father of my daughter’s Pre-K friend. Prefers trails to roads but slummed it with us this weekend.

4. Elise-Jason’s wife and a newly-minted half-marathoner.

5. Cris-We met through BodyPump and have become friends. She is a biologist and teacher; tiny and tough!

My life was pretty much Ragnar-centric for the week leading up to the race. We had a team meeting the Thursday before and then I spend the next days shopping, pre-producing the video, putting together spreadsheets, and baking pumpkin bead (a loaf of perfect running fuel for each runner!)

A loaf in every runner’s belly!

Then, of course, I had to pack for myself.

The real adventure started Thursday morning when Amy and Lori flew in from Wichita and Kansas City. I picked them up from MARTA and we went to get the vans. I had only been able to find 12-passenger vans, which turned out to be okay, but next year I’d like to reserve earlier and make sure I can get 15-passenger vans. That one extra bench adds a lot of space. I had neglected to tell Amy she would be driving, but she’s a sport. We nervously drove off the lot—but the 12-passenger van proved not to be that big of a deal to drive.

Lori, Amy and I hit up Target for snacks and then hung out at my house for a bit. Then the team members started to trickle in and it was time to decorate vans and pack up. Most of us hit the road for Chattanooga around 8. Missing: David had to stay and go to work, J-Ran was wrapping things up in Cali, and Katie was meeting us at the hotel after dropping her kids with family near the ‘Noog. Jason and Elise also have family in the area and stayed there Thursday night.

Bedtime came around midnight, but I was wide awake again at 4:45. I laid there for a bit and then decided, if I couldn’t sleep, I’d get up and try to catch the sunrise for the video. Katie stirred around this time and came with me. We drove to the Walnut Street bridge, which is a beautiful pedestrian bridge over the river. The water was steamy and the sky cloudy but we pointed the camera east and caught the first slivers of light for the video. Then I looked to my left and—you can hear this on the video—started shrieking. “Katie! Katie! It’s the start line! The start line! Look! It’s the start line.” I knew we were close to it but didn’t realize you could see it from where we were. We moved closer and got some good overhead shots of the 7:30 starters lining up and taking off.

Sunrise in Chattanooga.

The start line!

Then it was back to get ready for our 11AM start. Our late-comers showed up and we headed to the start line. We only had two Ragnar vets on the team, and since that was David and me, Van 1 was full of rookies. I wasn’t worried about them—everyone is a fully capable individual, and Amy and Cris are two of the most take-charge planners I know. They’d be fine.

We shot some fun stuff for the video of the team at the start, and saw some of the folks we’d be running with for a while. The most colorful characters were certainly the team called The Fellowship of the Beards, who were immediately ribbed by our bearded runner J-Win. You will hear more about them as they continued to be around us for the whole Ragnar.

A Beardsman.

Our time to start came and Jan lined up with the other teams. She executed a gorgeous cartwheel when the announcer called “Team Twisted Running,” and shortly thereafter took off to start our 200-mile journey.

Jan, on the left and in red, getting ready to kick things off.

Van 1 packed up and took off. Van 2, meanwhile, went to do—what else?—eat. Sandwiches at Sweet Peppers where we each got called “Honey,” “Baby,” or “Darlin’” by the sweet Southerner taking our orders. We then went to buy another red blinkie light from a running store since one of ours turned out to be blue (oops).

Sammich.

Scenes from Van 1–Jan hands off to Amy

Then off to Exchange 6 we went. We checked in, went through the safety talk, and got ready to run. There was a Ragnar Merch Tent which I avoided altogether because half the time I already look like a Ragnar groupie when I leave my house. I also practiced extreme self control in not succumbing to the lure of Swiftwick socks. However, I could not resist the little bakery there with a booth, selling chicken noodle soup. Now that was some good eating.

Our Van 1 was running ahead of schedule, so before we knew it, Lori was powering into the exchange and J-Ran was headed toward Monteagle mountain. Everyone in Van 1 was… well, glowing. They were all exhilarated and starting to ‘get’ the Ragnar experience. They had survived that first leg, where everything is new, and were clearly on a rush. They were also hungry, and we had an exchange to get to, so we said goodbye and went our separate ways.

We headed out of town and toward…the mountain. My grandfather never worried about me much, but when I drove between college in Rome, Georgia, and my grandparents’ house in Columbia, TN, he always fretted about me crossing Monteagle. This time, it was us fretting about J-Ran’s journey up the side of the mountain. There is a 1303-foot elevation gain in 4 miles on that leg. That is BANANAS. But J-Ran is one of the team’s strongest runners, and it was a perfect leg for him. I mean, dude ran up a mountain. That’s all I have to say about that.

We stopped across the road to cheer for him from the van (not surprisingly, teams are not allowed to get out of the van on the side of Monteagle Mountain). The Beard Runners were at the same spot, and had already tagged our van with a little sticky beard. I told whoever was driving (Brian? Aron? I dunno. I was already tired.) to pull up beside them, really close. I opened the door and with a marker started to write my Twitter handle on their van. They saw me and started to move, so I pressed the marker against the van and made a nice little line while they moved. Heh. All in good Ragnar fun. Then we saw Jason coming up the mountain. We cheered and offered him support and then watched him keep churning up the course. Did I mention that he flew in on the redeye from California-Atlanta Friday night? He’s TOUGH.

David still had not arrived from work so I ran his leg for him. Runner #8’s leg was across the top of Monteagle. Did you know that this area is extremely rural? Well it is. You know what live in extremely rural areas? Wild dogs. I saw two dogs (possibly wild, possibly not) on this 6-miler. Truth: It freaked me out. I had visions of those brothers in the recent Runners World article who have nerve damage after being attacked by pit bulls (these were not pits, btw.) I ran into the middle of the road (no cars coming) to be as far away as I could from them. Then I looked at them and sternly said “Stay. Stay.” I remember my mom doing that as a kid so it was the first thing that came to mind. Neither of them attacked me, so I guess it worked? I think they were probably bored with passing runners by this point. Anyway, I ran as the sun set and it was just beautiful, catching the tops of the fall-colored trees as it slipped away. And the perfect hint of chill in the air felt wonderful after a day that had gotten fairly warm. The run over Monteagle is hard because there is very little road real estate. Between the rumble strips and the ditch there is about a foot-width’s amount of space. One foot-width. It takes a lot of focus not to end up in the ditch or with a twisted ankle from the rumble-strips. But, so it goes.

I handed off to Aron just as it was getting truly dark. He busted down the road—so hard that his red blinky light fell off before we caught him in his second mile (remember? The light we had to buy a few hours before in Chattanooga? *facepalm*). We tossed him a new one to avoid a safety violation, but that left Katie scrambling to reconfigure her safety situation. She flipped her headlamp around, wore Jason’s in front, and took my Knuckle Lights. We tossed her out at her exchange and grabbed Aron and took off for more cheering. We found Katie a ways into her run, and she was clearly not happy with the light situation. One of the Knuckle Lights had a broken strap and things weren’t adjusted to her liking. We were also concerned about all the Friday-night-football-game traffic on 41 on Monteagle. I won’t lie—none of us were happy right then. Katie was distracted with all those little things, and we were worried about her safety. We caught her at least two more times before she ended her run, and things got progressively better as she came into Monteagle.

Brian took off for his first leg and after spotting him once on the route, we went on to the exchange. He must have been flying, because I got ready, went to the bathroom, and was tying my shoe near the exchange when I heard “138! 138 do you have a runner here?!?” I tied my shoe, found Brian and was headed down the chute and soon enough, down a mountain! It was so dark and I was discombobulated from missing Brian that I was nervous I wasn’t going the right way. There were no cones and no other runners at first. I slowed down and kept looking back until I saw a headlamp coming toward me. Then I took off. This leg was so much fun! It was dark, and chilly and vans were coming down the mountain and cheering. I saw our van twice on the mountain, and they got big smiles from me. The race had managed to get an entire lane for us to run in, so it was much easier than when we were fighting the rumble strips earlier. I could really let loose and run. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! The bottom of the mountain is at the 4 mile mark and then it’s four miles in to the town of Cowan. I knew if my time calculations were right David just might be there by the time I finished my leg. And, we’d get to see our dear Van 1 at the exchange. So I plugged along, trying to catch the blinky lights in front of me. I got passed at one point by a guy in compression socks who had a beautiful gait. (As someone who can have pretty terrible form, I’m awed by people who make running look pretty.) I paced off this guy for a while, and then I suddenly saw him walking. Weird, but he was looking like my roadkill now. Turns out his calf was acting up. On the first leg. Ouch. I hope he ended up being okay. I did pass him and soon heard some very rowdy cheering up ahead. My team! I happily ran toward Jan and slapped the bracelet on her, then crossed the street to join the rest of the team. First leg(s), over! 14 miles in 4 hours, and a run down a mountain. Exhilarating! Now, we were off to find David and food.

Let’s see… where were we? Oh yes. We were somewhere in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. We were done with our first legs. And we were hungry. That’s right. There was a great Boy Scout troop at Exchange 12 selling burgers and the like, but we wanted real food. We also desperately needed showers, but carbs trumped cleanliness tonight. To Olive Garden we went. And for some reason, they put us in a room all by ourselves…

But they filled the table with tasty tasty pasta, so it was all good.

After that it was off to Exhange 18, where we’d start running again. We got there around midnight and had a couple of hours to kill. The exchange was at a high school, and they may have had showers and sleeping areas inside, but we were too beat to scope any of it out. I stayed in the van and tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep. David and George went outside and laid on the ground. David and I brought our backpacking ThermaRest mattresses, and I would’ve been wise to do what David did and actually use it. But I didn’t; I will next time!~ Here’s Dave, looking like a cross between an alien and homeless guy.

Speaking of aliens, when I ventured in to the restroom, I found this contraption. It looked like it might have something to do with water and cleanliness, but I was clueless. (The key: there’s a foot pedal on the bottom that turns the water on. How quaint and genius you are, Wisconsin.) Thanks to the person who told me what to do.

Outside there were free S’mores… with your choice of classic Hershey’s or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. What an exquisite twist on the S’more! They even had chimneas set up so we could roast the marshmallows–and free coffee. The perfect 2 AM snack break.

Soon enough, it was time to run. Lisa took off first, despite her terrible fear of running in the dark (I didn’t realize she was really that afraid, or I wouldn’t have made so many Attack Badger jokes. Tim even ran a couple of miles with her and they did, in face, get followed for a bit by some sort of furry animal. Sorry for the jokes, Lisa.). She handed off to Dave, who handed off to me at another high school. I started running my 5+ mile route around 4 AM. I desperately wanted the sunrise route but ended up with first light instead. Not too bad, actually. It was still very dark when I began and about a mile in the route veered onto a park trail. It was a little lonely… until…whomp whomp whomp whomp whomp whomp up from behind me came a woman running very quickly. “This is creeeeeeepy!” She screeched at me as she approached me. whomp whomp whomp “I mean really creepy! It’s dark and there’s no one out here!” whomp whomp whomp “It’s like everything you’re not supposed to do! Dark and aloooooooon!” was the last I heard as she passed me and ran on into the dark. She was clearly sprinting because she was so freaked out. I didn’t even have time to call out “Darlin’, if you want to run with me, neither of us will be alone!” whomp whomp whomp… she was gone.

This was a good run for me. I had recovered mentally and physically enough to pound the miles out at the pace I wanted. The van met me on a road crossing just after I’d gotten my first legitimate road kill (which, for the record, was not an experience I particularly relished.) and I wasn’t expecting to see them, so it was a nice treat. First light came as I was finishing up the run and there was a beautiful if smelly barn right as I came toward the exchange. This leg felt like some vindication for me after the abysmal first leg.

We sent Katie off to greet the dawn and make her way toward Lake Michigan, and this was our view as she ran her leg.

We stopped to support her. I foam rolled on a strangers lawn. I’d recommend each van on a Ragnar to have a foam roller and The Stick in it. It… felt… sooooo gooooooood.

Katie handed off to Tim, who had a beautiful leg by the lake. We headed to Racine, where another major exchange awaited us at the YMCA. Katie’s kneed had gotten worse during her 2nd leg, so here she is doing an interesting one-legged hop down the stairs to see Tim hand off to Derik. Ouch.

Hello Tim, Goodbye Derik!

The Racine Y was offering $2 showers for Ragnarians, and it was the best $2 I’ve spent in a while. And since we had electric in the van, Katie even had the luxury of using her flat iron. Converted electric power for the win!

We were showered and, in a shocking turn of events, ready to eat again. Off we went on a breakfast hunt.

In the next post: How many injured runners can one van sustain? Which song on my playlist got complimented by the runners passing me? And, will the van beat Tim to the finish line? All that and more, in tomorrow’s post.

One of the biggest challenges for me packing for Ragnar was that I had to do it twice–once before I left Georgia, a full week before the race, and again when I was in Chicago. I did my best and I wasn’t flying, so it was okay to take a lot of ‘just in case’ stuff. Thankfully! Here’s what I packed before we left. Not included here are any actual clothes I planned to wear while running. That was to be packed in a different bag, since I planned to run after I arrived at my parents’, but before the race.

Big ol’ pile of electronics. My husband’s and my Garmin. iPhone and iPod chargers, headphones, armbands… a hotspot so we could hit WiFi on the road. You see lots of electrical, not car chargers there, because my husband planned to rig up a car charger converter to a power strip so we could have electric in the van. It was great–a full six outlets to use, plus standard car chargers. We’re tech nerds, what can I say?

Here you see our sweat towels and my flip flops and swimsuit. I’d gotten a heads up that some of the showers are communal and that a swimsuit would be, um, nice to have. SO GLAD for that tip, thank you Chrisy Tang!

Pants, compression socks, shirt for bumming around the van. I never used the pants or shirt, I just put on my next outfit and added a jacket in the overnight hours. I should DEFINITELY have put on the compression socks, though. Rookie mistake which I will not make again. I brought spare shoes in case of rain. I didn’t need them, but easily could have, so I’m glad I brought them.

Accessories–a hat for sun, sunglass, arm warmers just in case. I did use the arm warmers for part of my overnight leg. Took ’em off a mile in, but that’s what they’re designed for. Can’t say enough good things about my arm warmers. Hydration stuff. The stainless was for chocolate milk, an idea I ditched when space in Chicago go tight, but which I’d made room for. Recover is SO IMPORTANT in a relay. But more on that later. Also, I ended up using all 4 bottles of my hydration belt during the race–the heat indices were over 100 both days we ran. Even if your legs are short, you won’t be sorry you carried hydration if it’s hot like that.

Safety stuff: I use Knuckle Lights instead of a headlamp and I love them. My husband uses the Black Diamond Sprinter. It’s great and well designed–doesn’t pull your head forward with the weight of the lamp. Plus it has a red blinky light built in on the back. We also brought along our old Petzl Tikkas for the other van. We are big fans of the Amphipod Xinglet for an alternative to the bulky reflective vest. Lightweight and super-bright. You can see our trusty RoadID’s there, too. The wrist kind, because as my sister says, if you get hit by a car your shoes will fly off. Good to know. RoadID also makes the red and clear visibility lights you see, too.

Shout out to my new duffel bag! Isn’t it cute?

This is packing in Chicago: You can see that we put each leg’s outfit in a seperate gallon-sized ziploc so we could double check them and grab them easily when it was time to change. We are Ragnar nerds. I don’t care. See the Wet Ones and the Baby Wipes? Those are important. REALLY IMPORTANT. For the love of everyone in your van, get you some. Also added to the stash: a first aid kit with bandAids, Body Glide, and some personal food items. See that Peanut Honey Pretzel Luna bar box? Those are the best kind of Luna Bar, I promise. I am fueled by them, basically. Everything else pales in comparison.

Also seen here: my sleep mask and some sunscreen. Both indispensible. Looking at the stash, I think it appears that I’m going camping…with a baby… and some potheads. I love Ragnar.

Our captain Tim told us to pack light. This is what we ended up. Instead, I felt like we needed a Ragnar Sherpa. (My duffel, David’s duffel, the bag of camera gear, and the suitcase that held our stuff for church Sunday morning–we were staying over with Kristiana in the city).

I’m finally starting to write up my Chicago Ragnar Relay experience. It was amazing, and by far the most fun I’ve had since I can remember. Here’s the video my husband made of our adventure–Ragnar liked it so much that they put it on the FB page and told people competing in the year-end competition to watch it because it has ‘many of the elements’ they’ll be looking for. I’m already producing the video for when we do Tennessee. Look out!

Like this:

It’s winter. It’s cold. And it’s dark. Really dark, for a lot of my prime running time. I’m a morning runner–my husband has a later-than-many work schedule which allows me to run most every morning if I want. But with the sun not rising until 7:45 a.m., it can be really hard to a) muster the motivation to get out of bed and b) stay safe during everyone else’s morning commute.

Confession: I have three great running fears.

1. Not being able to run anymore.

2. Being smushed during a run.

3. Being snatched during a run.

I actually know three runners/walkers who have been hit by cars. I know of two cyclists. One of the cyclists is dead. So, fears of being smushed are not unfounded. And while I don’t know anyone who has been snatched, what female runner out there has not had some well-meaning soul tell them “Well, I don’t mean to scare you but my friend in (insert far-off state name here) heard a story from one of their friends about a woman who was running in (a deserted park, a country road, etc. etc.) and some man came out of the bushes and did (insert unspeakable thing here).” I try to think of all the reasons that wouldn’t be me but, in all honesty…

I get skeered.

Real skeered. I actually do tend to stick to well-traveled streets or roads with lots of houses to which I could presumably run if I were in distress. But of course, that means playing Frogger in parts of my busy suburban neighborhood. And it only gets worse in the dark of wintertime.

Which brings me to this post. Night time running safety.

Here’s what I do to deal with my Fear of Smushiness in the Age of Texting While Driving:

First, the most basic thing. Last summer I made a new rule–only obnoxiously bright tops for me. I like to think of myself as the Rainbow Brite of Running. Or at least the Punky Brewster. And that goes for anytime of day. I just think the more visible you can make yourself, the better. I shudder when I see a runner out in all black. It might make you look thinner, but it might also lead to you being a super-thin pancake on the road. Riiiiiiight?

Also, I invested in a skinny reflective vest from Amphipod. It’s called a Xinglet. It’s thin and lightweight and I hardly feel it when I’m running. It’s adjustable, so my husband can wear it too.

Attached to that, on the back, is a Firefly light from RoadID. I love it because this thing does NOT fall off like some other lights I’ve had do. They say it can be seen from a mile away and I make mine blink so hopefully it’s extra jarring when someone sees me from behind.

I have run with a headlamp before, and it was way better than running without one. But even with a lightweight Petzl from my backpacking days, I could still feel it’s weight in my neck. Enter Knuckle Lights. My sister got a pair when she was training for a 200 mile relay last fall and she raved about hers. She and my mom gifted me a pair last month. They are just what they sound like–LED lights you wear on your hands. They are BRIGHT. And they are more versatile than the headlamp, since there are two of them and since they are closer to the ground. The bobbing makes them more noticeable to cars, I think. I can tell that drivers see me from a fur piece (as my Nanny would say) because they get VERY far over, and they do it early.

Knuckle Lights. Well, Knuckle Light.

That’s about it for my being-seen safety routine. As for being snatched, I do constantly check for houses with lights on, etc., just in case. And I read about another runner’s trick that I plan to use–when you see someone that gives you the skeeves, look ahead as though someone you know is in a window or up the road waiting and give a wave of recognition, like “Oh hey! Yes I’m almost done with my early-morning run. How nice of you to have coffee waiting.” I’ve not done that one yet, but once I did go into a driveway and mess with my stuff like I was finishing up my run. Then I adjusted my route when I realized the man I had just passed going one way was COMING BACK TOWARD ME. Oy.

If you’ve got other safety tips, by all means, share them. I’m clearly open to any ideas that will keep me safe. As Jeannie Bueller says “I’m very cute, I’m very alone, and I’m very protective of my body!”

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